Dissecting The Dean Lombardi Quotes About The Drew Doughty Negotiations

It’s lab time boys and girls. Time to break out those frogs. The always efficient Helene Elliott gave all of us a Drew Doughty update along with quotes from the Dirty Harry of NHL GMs (full props to Greg Wyshynski for that beauty).

Lombardi said he spoke Monday with Doughty’s agent, Don Meehan, and made an offer that “codifies what we’ve been talking about for a while.” Lombardi said the offer includes “different lengths for him to consider,” likely six to eight years.

“Everything’s been amicable. We’re waiting to hear back from them. They said they’d get back to us in a day or two,” Lombardi said. “So in terms of distance, I’ll probably have a better handle on that when we hear back.”

The Kings made an offer to Doughty before July 1, “but we were so far apart it never really got to the fine tuning,” Lombardi said. He wouldn’t specify a salary figure but a long-term deal could vault Doughty above center Anze Kopitar’s team-leading average annual value of $6.8 million.

Meehan did not respond to an email requesting a comment.

So, Meehan and Lombardi spoke on Monday and Dean made an offer that “codifies” what he and Meehan have been talking about for a while…unless of course, “we’ve” refers to Dean Lombardi talking about he and his posse talking to he and his posse (those aren’t just voices you are hearing in your head) but we’re not going down that mental gymnastics again. We are taking “we’ve” as referring to what he and Meehan have been talking about for a while. I am sure others will disagree. I don’t care. That part is actually less important and doesn’t change the context of what is – the word “codifies” is fascinating. To “codify” something means to reduce it to a code or, if you prefer, a law. For example, Surly & I could talk about how for every misplaced apostrophe in one of his articles, he gets a lashing, but once we “codify” it, the lashing actually happens and there is no further discussion about the subject. “So let it be written, so let it be done.” It turns into an enforceable provision. Lombardi’s “codification” implies that he put in writing with a degree of “this is it, Don” what had been previously discussed between he and Meehan (or he and himself if you prefer), be it in the context of parameters discussed, specific terms or whatever. If it was just a simple reduction of a orally discussed term into a written offer, the term “codify” would not make as much sense. He could just state we had discussions and we set forth an offer consistent therewith. Done. But, the word codify puts authority behind the statement. Am I implying it’s a take it or leave it? No. But, it’s close.

Dean Lombardi said the offer includes “different lengths for him to consider,” likely six to eight years. The part in quotes comes from Dean. The six to eight years comes from Helene. Now, the different lengths (plural) clearly means Lombardi made more than one offer, one for X length and one for Y length. Earlier in her article, Helene wrote about how the Kings “refined” some concepts they previously discussed. We reported weeks ago the most recent offers were 7 and 9 years. Were those refined to 6 and 8? Don’t know. Helene does not know either but I like her educated guess / estimate because it sounds about right. Drew wants 5, Dean offered 7 and 9 and now Dean has “refined” that offer to a 6 year deal and an 8 year deal (a 1 year compromise off the last offers). Still though, I hate the 6 year mark. To not get a few of Drew’s UFA years, in a word, sucks for the Kings. I struggle to see Dean eclipsing a $7 million cap hit for anything less than 7 years.

The “amicable” part doesn’t add anything of substance other than a range of possibilities from “our discussions have been professional” to “nobody has threatened to rip out the other’s spine and piss down their neck.” I take that with a grain of salt and hope it remains amicable.

The last paragraph is interesting, though it is not all Lombardi’s quotes. Let’s look at it again:

The Kings made an offer to Doughty before July 1, “but we were so far apart it never really got to the fine tuning,” Lombardi said. He wouldn’t specify a salary figure but a long-term deal could vault Doughty above center Anze Kopitar’s team-leading average annual value of $6.8 million.

Being “so far apart” implies length and dollars. That makes me speculate Dean was in the low 6 million dollar range and Drew was in the high 7’s. However, total speculation. The important part is Helene’s conclusion that a long-term deal could vault Doughty above $6.8 million. First, is 5 years a long-term deal? No. Is 6? Probably not. Is 7? I think so. What would be a “vault” above $6.8? Probably $7 to $7.2. I am not so sure this is Helene speculating. That isn’t like her. I say she is basing this on actual information, circumstantial perhaps, that a Drew Doughty contract which is long-term gets him at or about $7 million. That brings us to the question again, that some of you have already answered – do you sign Drew to 7 years, $50 million? Assume Dean offered 7 years and $50 million for the foundation of the next question – Drew wants 5 years. Dean comes back with 6 as one of the options. What do you offer Drew for a 6 year term? More or less than a $6.8 million cap hit?

Goddamnit, Bobby! You’re so frigging Byzantine I can’t make head or tail of what you’re saying.

You’re dancing through three and four levels of hearsay and so much Lombardian deviousness that I can’t even be sure that DL even made that nine-year $6.5-mil/season offer that people talk about. Or that seven-year $50-mil package. Where does all this “inside info” come from? I’m not asking you to reveal your sources, but for Chrissakes how reliable is any of this shit?

The only thing I can assume is that whatever it is you’re getting is coming to you from a guy on the Kings side of the negotiations, since I don’t usually see you reporting the specifics of any Meehan counter-offers or demands.

Dean Lombardi said, “It’s safe to say we’ve talked the last couple days, and we’ll just continue to try to work through it. … I still feel confident that this is going to get done (before the start of training camp).”